Monthly Archives: January 2014

So last week Mike and I had enough of the poor sleeping from our poor little boy. It had been like this for the past month or so now: waking up two or three times a night, at worst every two hours, nursing, refusing to nurse, bouncing around and tossing his binki everywhere (or at us laying in bed trying to ignore him), eventually ending up in bed with us, tossing, flopping, punching, and just generally keeping us awake for most of the night.

By Thursday last week I was so done. Everyone was coming down with the creeping crud (again! Still? This winter, I swear…), and exhaustion on top of that was not helping. I couldn’t blame Finn’s poor sleeping habits on learning a new skill, a bad cold, or whatever anymore. Enough was enough. He was moving out into his own room. I planned on getting an extra space heater and a fan (cheap white noise maker), and anything else I needed as I cleaned up the ‘guest’ room that’s got all his stuff, except his bed, in it.

And then I read this article that a friend (Thanks Rebecca!) had posted on Facebook. It had a lot of good research in it, including things like this quote…

Children who cosleep are generally more independent and secure, develop close and lasting bonds to their families, and report more happiness and general life satisfaction than children who sleep alone.

And then I felt guilty. See, my goal was to not even consider moving him out of our room till he was one. It just didn’t feel right. He’s just a baby. We co-slept with him using the ArmsReach co-sleeper bassinet till he grew out of it, and it was wonderful. I didn’t have to get up out of bed to soothe him, and, though the kid nursed every two to three hours for the first few months of his life (he grew like a weed, I tell ya), he barely woke up otherwise.

Then it dawned on me, especially after reading that article (seriously, click on it. Pretty good stuff). He wasn’t just going through a phase or being obnoxious at night. He missed us. My little super-extrovert wanted to make sure Mommy and Daddy were okay, and then he would be okay. That’s why he stopped fighting sleep when we gave up and let him sleep between us.

Thinking about this, and reconsidering his eviction notice, I watched him as he played and tried to yammer and gobble out sentences in his own baby-speak. Of course he needs more reassurance than ever. For the first time in his short little life, the world is his to walk around in. Things are fun and exciting, but can also be dangerous. Mommy and Daddy can leave, and he doesn’t know how long it will be till they come back. He understands a little bit of language, but he doesn’t comprehend when we explain things to him yet. But he’s trying. And it’s hard work, and it’s frustrating.

So I decided he’s allowed to want to be with us at night. Of course he would. After all, he’s just a baby! He wouldn’t understand that he’s perfectly safe in his own room. He would only understand that his mom and dad are nowhere in sight when it’s dark and he’s small and all alone.

But there was still the problem of us actually getting some sleep. So instead of kicking him out, we decided to make his crib like his cosleeper bassinet. The sliding rail side of his crib is gone, and the crib is right against our bed, with just a three inch difference in height (his mattress is a little lower). I was worried about him crawling off our bed when he did wake up, so I lined the floor with pillows and blankets (except where the dog’s bed is. That’s fluffy enough). However, when I let him play on the bed to see what he would do, it turns out he knows how to swing his legs around and get down! *sigh* The pillows stay however. I would rather be safe than sorry.

Now remember – this happened last Thursday night, so we’ve been sleeping like this for the past four days now. And for the past four days he’s gone from waking up every two hours to waking up…

ONCE.

Not even kidding. Well, twice if you count the occasional morning, but by that time it could be my alarm waking him up, or if it’s late enough, he’s just ready to get up! Now he has fussed here and there with the occasional bad dream or gas or whatever, but he would lift up his head and see me so close, or I would just reach out my arm and pat him or reposition him and back to sleep we would be. I don’t even think I’ve woken up entirely. It’s fantastic. I haven’t even had to wake Mike up at all the past few nights, and that hasn’t happened since Christmas. Of course, it remains to be seen if this is a good long-term-ish solution, but I feel well rested, at that’s my only goal for the time being. He can get his own room when he’s ready.

After all, like my Grandma says, he’ll definitely be in his own room by the time he’s 15.

Did you co-sleep with your kids? Or do you think this whole thing is poppycock, and makes for mamas-boys (or girls?) overly dependent on their parents? What did you do with your kids for a good night’s sleep?

Did I say I was going to post Wednesday? Sorry about that. I went into research mode again after Mike started having flare-up symptoms again.

(I had a picture of the notebook page that was filled basically with notes and nonsense from my day of colitis research, but for some reason it’s a corrupted file. Should I consider that a sign? Either way, knock it off, iPhone…)

I’ll keep you updated on that adventure, although I should probably have an introductory post about that too, huh? Anyways, here are my resolutions for this new year (and a bit on how they’re going so far), so you can know what to expect from this blog this year (get out while you still can!)

MIND

Since I don’t have a job that actively stimulates the higher… ok, wait I shouldn’t say that. Dealing with small children of different age ranges can be very mentally challenging. Yet there’s something ‘bookish’ that’s missing there. My vocabulary suffers when I don’t do what I plan on doing this year, and that is, primarily, READ MORE! I used to chew through books like they were a Big Mac and I was a starving teenage boy. Still can, if I get the chance, but I’m not exposed to a lot of reading material anymore, being outside of the school system basically. What I’m saying is that it’s more of an effort, so I’m going to make that effort to read more. I hope to have a reading goals list, and/or a few posts on what I HAVE read, maybe with reviews.

The reading that I plan on doing will include learning more about alternative medicines, including Traditional Chinese Medicine, which is the most complicated form of alternative medicine out there right now (I’ve already wrapped my head around essential oils/aromatherapy. That’s pretty straight-forward. Look for me on Pinterest to see what I’ve found on essential oils).

Along with reading comes writing. I used to write like crazy. Obviously I’ve taken up writing here, but that’s not the same as what I used to do. I’ve written a novel, and have stories in my head that need out. More on that in a bit.

BODY

No, I don’t need to lose weight. Nursing has taken care of 90% of the baby weight for me (yay!), but what I DO need to do is tone up. Get rid of the diastasis rectii (look it up – you’ll be better off for it), and get stronger and more fit. I want to be lean and trim AND have an established exercise routine by the time I get pregnant again. The thing is, I have to get up and do it first thing in the morning, and I am SO not a morning person. Especially when the baby doesn’t sleep ‘like a baby.’ BUT I’m proud to say I’ve been doing pretty good so far! And -bonus!- Mike has started working out with me in the morning. So there’s that. Go family health!

Side note – as soon as it warms up outside, we are SO going to start taking walks in the evening again. We did that before I got pregnant (and couldn’t walk to fast due to slippery hips and carrying quite big), and I miss it.

SOUL

What I plan on doing here is just a stepping stone.

Say a Divine Mercy chaplet on Friday at 3:00 PM.

Family Rosary every Sunday.

And it really doesn’t need any more explanation than that, does it? (Ok, if you think it does, let me know and I’ll explain more)

FAMILY

So I already mentioned the family Rosary, right? Well, since Finn has cousins and they are all old enough to play together, I’ve decided to host a family dinner every other Sunday, and start by saying a rosary all together. It’s a bit distracting having all the babies running around or trying to grab our rosaries. Nonetheless, a good time is had by all. Yay togetherness…

And finally, the bonus resolution…

BLOG

Thinking long-term for this blog has made me realize that I want a better look and feel for this blog, which means that I’m going to have to put up some money for it, which means that I’m going to need some sponsors, not to mention the ability to host my website independently.

This is where you come in. You see, if I’m going to get the blog looking nicer, that means I need sponsors, which means I’ll need more readers. And I won’t get more readers all by myself. So if you like the shenanigans going on here at Sheridanigans, and want to see it look nicer/have more posts/get more fun stuff going on here, I would be much obliged if you would share this blog on whatever social website you like. Or simple word of mouth does fine too. I’m not picky. And I won’t ask for your help very often, don’t worry.

On top of that, I’ll reward your loyalty by letting you into a part of me/my life/my brain that I’ve kept hidden and dormant in the files of my mind (and my computer) for a few years now. (Remember when I said “more on that in a bit?” That time is now.) I’m hoping to go back and heavily edit the novel that I wrote YEARS ago, and put it here in serialized posts, with the eventual goal of getting it published. And that can only happen with your permission, basically. You like it, it becomes a reality, through the magic of the internets (that is, self-hosting and probably self-publishing). See how this works?

So there’s my goals for the year, in 1000 words or less (but only slightly less). Am I crazy? Probably. Will I be eventually? Definitely. But I have something that will help me achieve all these goals, one way or another.

As promised, here’s the post that I INTENDED on writing last week. Well, part of it at least. This may be long enough to be a two-parter, I feel.

So every new year I try to make some resolutions to get myself back on track after the holidays, if nothing else. This year, however, is going to be some work. You see, I’ve come to realize a few things over the course of 2013.

Our family health needs some major attention, the kind of attention that we can’t simply allow our doctors to breeze over. Taking matters into our own hands sortofa thing.

We need some serious spiritual realignment.

If any of this is going to happen, I’m going to have to be the one to enforce it.

How did I come to these realizations? Let’s go back to the list…

Mike spent a week in the hospital due to his inflammatory bowel disease. Basically he crept toward death over the course of a terrible month, and neither he nor I realized how bad it was. THEN after all this, we went through a series of new doctors and new medications that also nearly killed him (or would have, had he continued with them). Basically this adventure is going to require a post unto itself, but I want you to know where I’m coming from. For my part, my pregnancy could have been healthier, and I think the illness that I came down with near the end (PUPPs), coupled with a premature membrane rupture is an indication of that. “Good enough” for us, is no longer good enough.

Mike and I were very spiritual kids in high school and college, but lately we’ve been slacking off. We haven’t been to confession nearly enough, and daily prayers together have been lacking. Now that we have a family, we need to get our prayer routine down now while the baby is still a baby and it’s easier to establish.

Now I know that statement in #3 above makes it sound like Mike isn’t doing anything, which isn’t at all true. He’s the captain, and I’m the first mate. But you see, the first mate is the one that makes sure everything happens to the captains expectations. We’re a very good team, driver and navigator, head and neck, tweedle dee and tweedle dum (not a good example? Whatever…), and he let’s me run the day to day of the household. As it happens, this includes our routine, and if I don’t make it (whatever “it” may be) part of the routine, it’s not going to happen. My dear husband brings home the bacon, and this takes all of his time and energy (sometimes more than he’s got to give). This makes me the family doctor, teacher, police officer, head chef and washwoman. Also known as Mom, amiright? I’m taking this role very seriously this year.

Whew! Now you see why I’ve decided to have some serious resolutions for this year. They seemed a little daunting at first, but now I’m excited, mostly because we are a few weeks in, and things are going good so far. Usually I throw a whole bunch of resolutions at the wall, and see what sticks, but this year I’ve had a more tactical approach.

Approaching this tactically, I/we have decided to divide my/the family’s goals for the year into four categories:

Mind – things that involve learning, or thinking some how. It’s kind of a grey matter (see what I did there?)

Soul – what’s it going to take to get my family into heaven? Baby steps here.

Body – Health and fitness, and what goodness goes into it.

Family – What we do together

BONUS! Blog – I have plans for this website as well. Stay tuned.

Wow. I was right – this got long fast. Well, by Wednesday I should have up part two of my resolutions, where you actually get to see those resolutions. Why am I bothering putting this here? Because I hope that, in writing about these things that I’m going to do/learn/read/make, I’ll better be able to analyze them, and make it so you can learn/make/read them too!

So what are your goals for this year? Do you make resolutions or just have a theme/word for the year? Feel free to share in the comments – I need all the help I can get!

I agreed with myself and prepared accordingly. I was going to post about the New Year’s resolutions I made (yes I recognize the fact that it’s the middle of January. Shut up.). I made a list and everything.

Why didn’t I do this earlier in the week? It’s been crazy. This evening is the first evening we don’t have anything going on (meeting, Adoration, meeting…ug. Remind me to stop having people volunteer me for stuff), and during the day I was busy with chores, sicky kids, and preparing for those meetings. So TODAY was THE DAY for blogging.

And then I hit my head. Like, ohmygoshIcan’tgetup hit it. Seriously. Opened a cabinet door, stuff fell out, I got down to pick up the stuff and when I stood back up WHAM! And back down I went.

Long story short, I feel super derpy now, and it’s showing in my typing (It’s taken me a while to write this… God bless the backspace key). I don’t think I have a concussion, but I’m having short spacey episodes. I’ll keep you posted. Anyways, here I am making a post, but it’s not what I want it to be. Hopefully that means that you guys will get a couple more posts next week or over the weekend.

Remember me? I’m back, more or less. Sorry about the hiatus. I took a break, obviously. The holidays, spending time with family, and taking care of ourselves took precedence over the digital world. I’m sure you understand! At least, I hope you do!

But in all honesty, we were incredibly busy, between going to and hosting parties, recovering from said parties, and passing, like, four different viruses around to one another. Finn had the latest bug with a fever and all, and I think I’m getting over the same one, though I think my age has spared me the fever portion. OH, and on top of that, the poor kid got his two/three front teeth for Christmas, AND he’s trying desperately to walk, all of which is/was keeping him up at night. Yay sleep deprivation!

Anyways, I’m BACK! And when I say more or less, I want to be clear with you – Sheridanigans is probably going to turn into a weekly blog, with some bonus posts here and there. You see I have several new year’s resolutions (which usually turn into February’s Lenten re-resolutions, heh), which make me realize that, while I need to continue writing, I need to focus it a bit better. I don’t just want to pump out a bi-weekly blog with nothing really good on it. Quality over quantity if you will.

Speaking of resolutions- that will be my next post, (which I DO hope to have up this week) a list of my new years resolutions, some of which may actually have to do with this blog directly or indirectly. So stay tuned to that. Meanwhile, I’m going to go post a quick apology and a note about some changes to my readers on my KNOW YOUR SAINTS! blog, which has also been sorely neglected.

About me:

I'm a nanny of four, a mother of one (plus a dog), and an excellent homemaker (according to my husband). These are my stories, helpful tips, or whatever. I'll try to keep it light.
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